A Heated Debate Between Two Charismatic Geniuses: A Cardinal Fan (Jeff Lung) and a Tiger Fan (Allen Krause)

Et Tu, Molina?

If you are a Cardinal fan and you read Will Leitch’s Deadspin column this week and you are like me then you, too, are probably well into your fourth fifth of Jack Daniels. You’ve called your mother balling like a baby, the cops have been to your house twice and you have a large welt on the inside part of your leg, you don’t know how or when it got there.

No, sir. The world just doesn’t seem the same anymore.

For those of you dear readers unaware, to summarize, Leitch made a strong point that the Cardinals’ franchise player — the face, the rock, the lone savior of St. Louis — Albert Pujols, may not be as married to the organization as we all think he is, that if the Cardinals aren’t committed to winning (as they appear now), that if Tony LaRussa isn’t around, that if GM John Mozeliak and his army of “stat zombies” (thanks, Prince) decide to continue on the Moneyball route and take for granted that Albert will sit around, silent, simply collecting a paycheck, then it is not fair to assume he will stay with the franchise once his contract ends in 2011.

It’s not fair.

It’s terrifying.

I do not have to tell you how important Albert is to St. Louis Cardinals baseball because Albert is St. Louis Cardinals baseball. The loss of Pujols would be akin to the loss of Franz Ferdinand… or worse! It’d be John Lennon, Jack Kennedy and Aaliyah all dying on the same day! Seriously.

One of the joys from the past few seasons has been watching Yadier Molina develop into a feisty, competitive, smart and affective baseballer. He hits for average, has power, steals bases, always has his head in the game and you can’t find a better defensive catcher. You also cannot listen to a Cardinals broadcast these days without hearing how essential Albert Pujols has been in Yadi’s development. You see them together in the dugout, talking hitting, talking defense, then Yadi goes out produces. It’s a real thing of beauty.

Yet if you listen to Will Leitch’s warning shots and recognize the clear and present danger of losing Albert, then you really have to think about losing Yadi too. His contract is also up in 2011 with a club option for 2012 and if Mozeliak & Co. don’t convince Albert to stick around, you can bet that Molina will be right behind him.

Thinking about all of this makes me want to die. If I feel that way, if Cardinal fans feel that way, if the blogosphere feels that way, then why does John Mozeliak — the pompous king of arrogance — continue to look down upon us — the common voice — like plebeian s***-eaters who know nothing about the game of baseball?

I guess now is the time to start praying to the baseball gods. I just hope they know more about satisfying their fanbase than Mozeliak.

15 Comments

Don’t scare me like that, Jeff! I don’t wanna think about the Cards without Albert until it’s blatantly obvious it’s time for him to retire. And we’re not near that point in time yet.
Jenhttp://ajroxmywhitesox.mlblogs.com

I read the Leitch article, Jeff, and I know exactly how you feel. I went through it with Johan Santana and now maybe Joe Mauer. I am a fan of a team that would rather save money than win championships, and it sucks. It sucks to have an organization that refuses to do anything to address its most glaring needs, because “we don’t want to mortgage away our future”. A future that will never come because the front office keeps letting its best players walk and fails to fill any of its holes. All the while expecting the fans to simply put up and shut up and keep spending money.
-Erinhttp://plunking-gomez.mlblogs.com

Leitch was pretty much on the money except I don’t buy the premise that La Russa doesn’t like to play young players. He’s a got a pretty impressive list of youngsters he’s used and trusted from the beginning of his managerial career. I think it’s more that he doesn’t like young players who don’t listen or don’t know how to play than anything else.http://www.paullebowitz.com/

Wow, I’m not even a Cardinals fan and this bugs me…unless of course His Machine-ness decided to make Arlington his new home. Then I’d just tease Cardinaldom with a very loud Nelson-from-The-Simpsons “nya-ha!” taunt. :^)

Make the bad man stop! The idea that Albert might not be with the cards someday before he retires is downright horrifying. Utterly unfathomable. I realize it is a possibility, but please stop. JM will surely do what he has to to make him stay when the time comes. You couldn’t write a scarier horror movie plot.

zbadcardsman — The good news is: this was written before Mo went out and made all those moves for Holliday, Smoltz, DeRosa and Lugo. I think AP (and Yadi) are pretty darn pleased with what has transpired… as are we Cardinal fans, so don’t get too down. They’ll be around for a while.
–Jeff

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